One Business's Solution to Managing Remote Employees

When you own a small business, managing a team that is large enough to handle your growing business needs can be a challenge, especially when several employees work from home. Managing remote employees requires a different way of operating, and there is always concern as to how to know if your remote employees are actually working. And then there is the never-ending issue of assigning tasks and being able to follow them through to completion.

For Arizona-based accounting firm Taxanista, these problems were all too common. Since its inception in 2007, Taxanista has enjoyed steady business growth, largely because of their desire to be a different kind of accounting firm focused on small businesses. Founder and CEO Angela Snyder was tired of the stereotypical accounting firm look and feel. She wanted to help her clients feel less stressed. Angela understood the challenges of small business owners all too well herself. She knew that small businesses had limited budgets but still needed the quality of services available to large corporations. So she built her business to provide excellent, corporate-quality service at a level small businesses could afford.

As Angela’s business grew so did her team and likewise, the internal challenges associated with managing a growing book of clients and employees. She and her team struggled with organizing information, and keeping track of tasks that needed to be completed. Originally, Taxanista’s employees spent a lot of time searching through overloaded email inboxes trying to find information, or hopping on countless screen share calls to go over what had been done and what items still remained to be completed. And then there was the ongoing struggle of managing a mix of remote and in-office employees and ensuring productivity remained high.

So in 2015, Taxanista set out to find a solution to their organization and management challenges and found AllProWebTools. After implementing AllProWebTools, “it’s improved (our) communication tenfold,” says Rosie Pena, Office Manager at Taxanista. “We can see what’s been assigned as well as states of completion on every single task. Now all of our communication is fluid and transparent!”

Managing remote employees has also became a much easier task. Through the AllProWebTools system, Snyder can see when and where her remote employees clock in and what projects they are working on. Assigning tasks has allowed her to reduce the worry that tasks will be forgotten as she can pull up a list of everything she has assigned and receive alerts if an outstanding task is overdue.

For Taxanista, less worrying about project completion means more focus on helping small business owners succeed, which is exactly what they want.

“Quite a few people come to us in tears,” says Pena, “some of them haven’t filed taxes in five or six years - even ten in some cases - and they come to us in a panic because they just don’t know what to do. We've saved marriages - we honestly have! They go into business and they end up owing personal and business taxes - which takes a toll on any marriage. We get them settled, we take care of the paperwork, and sometimes they don't even owe that much money!”

Now with AllProWebTools helping them manage the internal affairs of their business, Taxanista can continue to grow and help even more businesses with their taxes.

About the Author: Aubrey Blankenship

Aubrey Blankenship is the CEO of online marketing company INFUSEALLY, which focuses on providing big business marketing strategies and execution to small businesses. For the past 11 years, Aubrey has been building her knowledge and experience in marketing, graphic design, writing, social media, SEO, web design, analytics and strategy for both businesses and marketing agencies. She consults for B2B and B2C companies ranging from under $100k in annual revenue to over $20 million, and teaches DIY marketing classes to entrepreneurs. She lives in Castle Rock, Colorado with her husband, Brandon and their three children.